A HIGH-PERFORMANCE BUS FOR MULTICHIP-MODULE TO MULTICHIP-MODULE INTERCONNECTS

HIGH PERFORMANCE ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS ARE MAKING INCREASING USE OF MULTICHIP MODULE (MCM) TECHNOLOGY. SUCH A SYSTEM MAY CONTAIN MANY SUCH MCMS, SOME OR ALL OF WHICH MUST COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER. WE PROPOSE A HIGH-PERFORMACE OPTICAL TECHNIQUE FOR CONNECTING MCMS ON A SINGLE BOARD. THE VIRTUES OF THE APPROACH PROPOSED HERE, AS COMPARED WITH OTHER APPOROACHES KNOWN TO US, ARE: 1) RATHER THAN REQUIRING ONE OPTICAL SOURCE PER MCM, THIS APPROACH REQUIRES AT MOST TWO OPTICAL SOURCES FOR THE ENTIRE INTERCONNECT SYSTEM, THUS INCREASING RELIABILITY AND REDUCING POWER DISSIPATION, AND 2) A RECEIVER ON ANY SINGLE MCM EXPERIENCES A CONSTANT LEVEL OF OPTICAL POWER, REGARDLESS OF WHICH MCM ON THE INTERCONNECT IS SENDING DATA, THUS MINIMIZING RECEIVER COMPLEXITY. A PARTICULAR REALIZATION OF THE INTERCONNECT METHOD PROPOSED HERE USES ORGANIC POLYMER OPTICAL WAVEGUIDES ON SILICON. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS - THIS RESEARCH ADDRESSES KEY DESIGN AND FEASIBILITY ISSUES NECESSARY TO EVALUATE THE USE OF PHOTONICS FOR INTERCONNECTION OF MULTICHIP MODULES. IF SUCCESSFUL, IT WILL PROVIDE THE HARDWARE FOUNDATION FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF HIGH PERFORMANCE ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS. THESE INTERCONNECTS ARE BROADLY APPLICABLE TO MANY COMMUNICATION AND COMPUTER SYSTEMS REQUIRING HIGH SPEED INTERCONNECTIONS BETWEEN MULTICHIP MODULES.